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Defense, Or Offense

This is the busiest of times. The best weather and, this year most gratifying, with a bountiful harvest rewarding us for our efforts to help Mother Nature perpetuate the species. For some reason I love working on the combine. It is a 1978 John Deere with 5000 hours under its belt, a masterpiece of chains and belts and sheet metal. It is still amazing how this Rube Goldberg-like pile of parts can take a corn field and put all those grains in a wagon, leaving the rest of the plant for protection of soil life.
I had to take time out from fall work to pen this other side of the story. I remember having no idea I would be a farmer (even though I was probably the only high school kid in Newport Beach with a garden). But it just seemed silly to me that I was vulnerable to be drafted to go kill Vietnamese farmers. Heck, I did work for a landscaping company which was a piece of cake compared to sticking millions of rice seedlings in mud all day. I had empathy for those people under the bombers. No quarrel.
There is never a bad time to question authority.

Defense, Or Offense

The Russian threat is real if the Muslims don’t get here first. Sharia law was recently touted as imminent. But somehow has it been discovered that U.S. law, if enforced, should prevent imposition of Sharia? Now we watch the skies for a “Red Dawn” style invasion of Russian paratroopers.

In Ukraine, the duly elected Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by a Western supported coup and we are to believe Putin is an aggressor when he helps Ukrainians loyal to their elected leader. And Crimean citizens voted overwhelmingly to secede and align with Russia and that’s called a Russian invasion. Now the Russians are in Syria, another disaster of no value to Americans. It’s the domino theory reborn. We are so afraid I expect there will soon be lines outside IRS offices of patriots seeking to donate to our diminished military so they can defend us from the hoards of uh, invaders.

With all these dire headlines maybe The Alternative needs to look at alternatives. I think few Americans would turn down a couple extra bucks in tax savings if they are being squandered for no good purpose. But it seems like a pundit or politician who questions military spending is as rare as hen’s teeth nowadays.

Leftists, who in the past we could count on as peaceniks, are now on the death and destruction bandwagon as well. That always made perfect sense to me, as war is the epitome of big government and leftists are fond of government directing our every move and dollar so as to make things fair. They might as well direct the lives and cash of foreigners too, eh?

It’s a mandate, a groundswell of support for the forces of good over evil, this defense spending thing. Life is a comic book: POW! BAM! There’s a lot of action but nothing seems to change. A large portion of our world is like a leaky bucket and there’s plenty of money to be made on those leaks.

All this ‘here’s a threat, there’s a threat’ stuff got me to wondering, how do we compare to other nations?

In 2009 (the most recent time for comparative numbers) the United States spent $2,140 per person on defense compared to Russia’s $430. Russia has military bases in ten countries, the United States has military bases in 74.

China (the next highest spender to the U.S.) spends $143 billion on defense. The U.S., $711 billion.

The U.S. has 40,000 troops in Germany on 175 bases. The numbers are similar for Japan and Korea. These are countries American workers compete with, and lose to, in many industries. It seems like they should be capable of furnishing their own defense.

What is this Russian threat? Does anyone seriously think an American on our soil will be harmed by a Russian? How about a Syrian? What is the meaning of the word, defense? A private sector drained to support a bloated military looks a lot like the Soviet Union before Ronald Reagan supposedly scared them into bankruptcy.

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2 responses to “Defense, Or Offense”

Last Wednesday (September 28, 2015) the world saw the difference between Russia and Washington. Putin’s approach is truth-based; Obama’s is vain boasts and fabrications, and Obama is running out of lies.

By telling the truth at a time of universal deceit, Putin committed a revolutionary act. Referring to the slaughter, destruction, and chaos that Washington has brought to the Middle East, North Africa, and Ukraine, and the extreme jihadist forces that have been unleashed, Putin asked Washington: “Do you realize what you have done?”

Perhaps Putin’s question will bring the reign of “American Exceptionalism” to an end. If so, Putin mat have just launched a revolution that will overthrow the world’s subservience to Washington.

Oh my gosh Fred, you’ve caught fire. This kind of truth should have some heads exploding and lead to a resurgence of REAL American exceptionalism. Just think, a US government that preserves individual rights and leaves the rest of it to individual choice. I might even buy McCain a plane ticket to keep him away from our potentially greatest nation on earth.

Unfortunately, propaganda is now sophisticated a million times over Eisenstein and truth has no chance. Doesn’t mean we can’t try, though.